The invention pertains to the field of seats, particularly those suitable for use on vehicles, such as bicycles and the like.
Bicycles see widespread use to provide transportation, recreation and professional racing. Some individuals may ride a bicycle for a few minutes at a time; while others may ride for as much as several hours at a time. Over the last two decades, bicycle designers have concentrated on making bicycles lighter and stronger. This has been achieved in part by the continual substitution of increasingly lighter but stronger metallic alloys for those previously used. As such, the weight of a typical bicycle has substantially decreased over the past few years, thereby affording the rider the ability to pedal the bicycle over greater distances before becoming fatigued.
Although much attention has been directed to making bicycles lighter, relatively little attention has been paid by bicycle designers to making a bicycle more comfortable to ride. In particular, a very common and traditional bicycle seat comprises a rather small triangular shaped piece of seat material, such as leather or thick pliable plastic, which is secured around a suitable frame. The front portion (often called the "horn") of this seat, which points toward the front of the bicycle, is narrow and elongated; while the rear portion of this seat is somewhat wider, though not nearly as long as, the front portion and slightly extends perpendicularly outward from both sides of the bicycle. In some of these seats, the seat material may be outwardly supported from the frame by an arrangement of springs or by one or more separate pieces of compressible material, such as dense polyurethane foam or the like. This seat is then secured through a suitable seat post directly to the frame of the bicycle.
In use, the rider straddles this seat. In particular, he positions himself so that the front portion of the seat is situated directly under his crotch and the rear portion extends back below the rider's buttocks and hence spans and supports small adjacent portions of the buttocks that lie behind either side of the crotch. Unfortunately, whenever a rider mounts such a seat and pedals a bicycle, all the weight of the rider, apart from that of his legs, is supported by the relatively narrow front portion of the seat. Inasmuch as the front portion only supports the rider's crotch, this weight bears down on the crotch and, as a result, over a long period of time, irritates the crotch and causes it to become sore.
As reported in the booklet Spence et al, Keeping the Rider in the Ride (c. 1984, Spenco Medical Corporation: Waco, Texas), this soreness (often called "saddle soreness") can result from various causes, all induced by the bicycle seat. These causes specifically include: bruising of the subcutaneous tissues of the buttocks resulting from these tissues being squeezed between the bones of the pelvis and the bicycle seat, saddle sores resulting from chafing and excoriation of the skin situated directly under the supporting bones of the pelvis, penile numbness resulting from pressure exerted by the horn of the seat onto the blood vessels on the underside of the penis, increased prostate tenderness particularly in men suffering from prostatitis (inflammation and engorgement of the prostate), and urethritis (including sharp localized pain, painful urination and bleeding) in women resulting from pressure exerted by the seat horn on the external opening of the urethra.
As the result of the onset of saddle soreness, the rider will often sense his crotch becoming sore before he feels sufficiently fatigued and will therefore prematurely terminate the ride due to this soreness. Oftentimes, in some riders, the onset and continuance of this soreness will increase the fatigue. Thus, the soreness resulting from the poor support provided by the bicycle seat rather than fatigue resulting from propelling the combined weight of the bicycle and the rider compels the rider, particularly a long distance rider, to terminate the bicycle ride.
The art has recognized this problem and, in response, has proposed several different arrangements for bicycle seats all ostensibly aimed at increasing the rider's comfort. However, upon close examination, these arrangements possess various drawbacks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 471,417 (issued to W. I. Bunker on Mar. 22, 1892) discloses a bicycle seat made of one or more resilient tubular shaped members, such as rubber, or rubber and canvas or the like, which run between two arms, sockets or the like. This seat is mounted parallel to the bicycle, i.e. parallel to the plane of the wheels of the bicycle. In use, the rider straddles all the tubular members, much like he straddles the front portion of the traditional triangular seat. These members run directly under and along the rider's crotch. Inasmuch as these members are resilient, the rider "bounces" up and down on the central portion of these members as he rides the bicycle. The resiliency of these members permits them to absorb some of the shock of the road that would otherwise be transmitted back to the rider, thereby ostensibly increasing the rider's comfort. Unfortunately, inasmuch as the seat must provide firm support for the rider, the tubular members must always remain firm and hence their elasticity must be quite limited. Here too, most of the rider's weight is concentrated onto the rider's crotch as in the traditional seat and hence the arrangement shown in this patent provides little, if any, added comfort for the rider.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,874,730 (issued to J. L. Marchello on Apr. 1, 1975) and 4,176,880 (also issued to J. L. Marchello on Dec. 4, 1979) describe very similar arrangements for a bicycle seat. Here, two relatively broad flat members, e.g. straps or the like, are pivotedly connected to and extend between two upright legs of a U-shaped member which is mounted to a bicycle in a position transverse to the plane of the wheels. Whenever a rider mounts this seat, both of these members span completely across the rider's buttocks and pivot upward against the buttocks. Unfortunately, such a seat is not sufficiently firm to provide the rider with adequate comfort.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,925 (issued to J. A. Barker et al on June 14, 1983) discloses another arrangement for a bicycle seat. This arrangement uses a single firm elongated contoured cushion to pivotedly abut against and support each side of a rider's buttocks and the back of the upper leg. Although this arrangement only and firmly supports a substantial portion of a rider's buttocks and dispenses with the need to support the crotch thereby advantageously preventing any soreness from being imparted to the crotch, this arrangement is somewhat complex and hence expensive to manufacture. Moreover, if the rider is pedaling a bicycle while positioned atop this seat, the cushion repetitively rubs against the back of a rider's leg in a region situated below the buttocks which, over time, leads to chafing and discomfort.
Thus, a need exists in the art for a bicycle seat which is comfortable, especially for long distance riding, and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.